At Lowe’s in Central New Orleans, Collette “Ms. Cookie” Dubose, a 12-year associate, shows up for work around 6:00 a.m. everyday as a back end clerk. She loves her job and the people she works with.
“I love coming to work, it is my passion,” said Ms. Cookie. “I work with wonderful people, a lot of young people that I try to take under my wing and give advice… my door is always open.”
On June 30, shortly after Ms. Cookie arrived at work, she got a call from one of her neighbors. Her house was on fire and the fire department was on the way. She rushed out of the store with her supervisor to find her home of 26 years engulfed in flames.
Firefighters extinguished the fire and salvaged what they could, including a rare 1944 picture of her father who played on the New York Renaissance, an all-black professional basketball team established in 1923.
She lost many memories to the fire but she said one was extra special. Ms. Cookie always wished to own her own home. She had two sons, but her oldest was murdered when her youngest was only three years old. The insurance from her son’s death helped fulfill her homeownership wish 26 years ago. Something she said made losing her home to the fire that much harder.
While looking over the damage, her district manager, Darrin Funches, and area HR manager, Shawn Acreneaux, came to help. Funches heard about the fire through an associate who wanted to donate money to Ms. Cookie.
So he got on the phone and rallied other area store managers to send help. Each had contacts in the community to assist with providing open-top dumpsters, port-a-potties and furniture restoration. But to Ms. Cookie, one of the biggest gifts was seeing how much her fellow associates cared about her when the volunteers started showing up.
For three days, more than 100 associates, some she knew and some she didn’t, came to help. They worked in shifts to clear her house, taking care of their beloved friend who had just lost so much. One associate even barbequed for all of the volunteers. Each morning, Ms. Cookie lead the team with the familiar Lowe’s cheer.
At the end of those three days, they had carried two truckloads of valuables to storage and filled three dumpsters of items lost in the fire.
“My Lowe’s family took such good care of me, they came to stand in line to give me a hand,” Ms. Cookie said.
Ms. Cookie also received another kind of help from her Lowe’s family – financial support from the Lowe’s Employee Relief Fund. This fund was created more than 20 years ago to help associates get back on their feet during times of significant, unforeseen financial hardships from natural disasters, medical events or a death in the family.
Lowe’s associates contribute to the fund and the company matches each contribution dollar for dollar. Since 1999, more than 36,000 associates have received over $41 million in assistance.
Even after surviving breast cancer twice and now a devastating house fire, Ms. Cookie is grateful for what she still has.
“I cannot say enough about my Lowe’s family.”
She is now living in temporary housing and looking forward to rebuilding her home.
